Case Number 16231: Small Claims Court

MY OWN WORST ENEMY: COMPLETE SERIES

The Charge

One man. Two very different lives.

The Case

In the months leading up to the debut of My Own Worst Enemy, NBC
advertized it heavily, putting special emphasis on movie star Christian Slater's
(True Romance) starring turn. The series hit the airwaves on October 13,
2008, never caught on with audiences, and was cancelled two months later after
nine episodes.

My Own Worst Enemy is about Edward Albright (Slater), a highly
skilled spy working for an organization known as Janus. Albright is part of a
special program that divided him into two people. His alter ego is Henry Spivey,
a mild-mannered efficiency expert with all of the trappings of a comfortable
suburban life: a beautiful wife (Mädchen Amick, Twin Peaks), a nice
home, and two kids. Problems arise when the computer chip in Edward/Henry's
brain that Janus uses to switch each of the personalities off and on
malfunctions. Henry begins to show up during Edward's deadly missions, while
Edward is often left to take Henry's daughter shopping for a prom dress or (oh,
the horror!) make love to Henry's wife. Wishing to keep her program alive,
Edward's supervisor, Mavis Heller (Alfre Woodard, Scrooged) allows him to
remain an active agent and hides the technical glitch from her boss, Alistair
Trumbull (James Cromwell, Babe). Edward's partner, Raymond Carter (Mike
O'Malley, Yes, Dear) -- whose alter ego is Henry's fellow efficiency
expert, Tom Grady -- must contend with Henry's incompetence as a secret agent as
well as a wife (Missy Yager, Mad Men) who mistakes his frequent
out-of-town adventures with a secret life of marital infidelity. The odd mix of
(literally) domestic squabbles and international intrigue is punctuated with a
subplot involving the death of Edward's parents -- the mysterious event that
compelled the former military man to sign up for Janus' brain-tampering
experiment.

Anchored by Slater, Woodard, and Cromwell, My Own Worst Enemy has one
of the strongest casts of any television drama in recent history. Amick, Saffron
Burrows (Deep Blue Sea), and Mindy Sterling (Austin Powers:
International Man of Mystery) deliver strong supporting performances as
Edward's psychiatrist, and Henry's wife and boss, respectively. After making his
name playing slobs like Jimmy in the sitcom Yes, Dear and Boston sports
fanatic "The Rick" in a series of ESPN commercials, Mike O'Malley is
surprisingly good in a dramatic role as Edward/Henry's fellow bifurcated secret
agent, Raymond/Tom. My Own Worst Enemy also delivers solid production
values and excellent cinematography as television shows go. Edward's adventures
in the Middle East in the "High Crimes and Turducken" episode look a
bit stage-bound, but exteriors meant to represent Eastern and Western Europe are
impressive and beautifully shot. Taking its cue from 24, the series'
action is great (and often surprisingly brutal and bloody). The espionage
plotlines are frequently taut and compelling.

Unfortunately, the fine performances, solid production design, and rocking
action can't overcome a central conceit that wears thin by the third or fourth
episode. The show never adequately explains why Janus wants agents with two
personalities in the first place (at one point, Edward claims it allows him to
have a normal life without affecting his commitment to espionage, but that makes
no sense since Henry has the normal life, not Edward). The hoops the
organization must jump through in order to maintain their spies' cover lives are
absurd to the extreme -- imagine if the CIA spent half of its time and energy
micro-managing domestic squabbles caused by its agents' wives feeling neglected
because of their husbands' alter-egos' super-secret trips to the other side of
the world to carry out assassinations and whatnot. Does that sound like a recipe
for water-tight national security to you? Me neither. Worse yet, in the second
episode of the series, Janus' inability to control the switch that activates
Edward and deactivates Henry nearly gets one of their agents killed as well as
botching an operation because Henry is about as incompetent as one would expect
of an efficiency expert who awakes in the middle of a dangerous scenario
involving espionage and firearms. The idea that Woodard's spy chief would keep
Edward/Henry active and hide his problem from her superior is too much to
swallow -- at least in a show that plays as a straight drama. Based on its
premise, My Own Worst Enemy should have been a tongue-in-cheek
comedy-action show. The spy action is satisfying, but the suburban shenanigans,
built as they are on misunderstandings and misdirection, feel like Three's
Company minus the zany. Like Henry and Edward, the show's two halves are
incompatible misfits.

This complete series box set contains all nine episodes of the show, spread
across two discs:

The set is exactly what you'd expect of a network's last-ditch attempt to
grab a few more pennies from a failed series for which they'd had high hopes.
The episodes look decent, though not spectacular. The presentation is 1.78:1
anamorphic widescreen. Detail is solid but not eye-popping. Colors are accurate
and attractive. Audio is a Dolby 5.1 mix that presents clear dialogue, effects,
and music but doesn't rock the house. The entire soundstage is put to use, but
directional panning is non-existent.

There are no extras.

I can't imagine who would want to buy this set. Despite a great cast, My
Own Worst Enemy was mired in a lame premise that prevented any reasonable
suspension of disbelief and ensured that it never built a sizable enough
audience to stay in production. Since NBC dumped the show midway through its
first season, this set ends with a cliffhanger that wraps up exactly zero of the
series' many plots and subplots. Taking the time to watch the episodes once is a
questionable endeavor. It's difficult to imagine why anyone would want to
revisit them. If you're curious, catch the show on Hulu.